Recommendation Engine for Interactive Search Forms

1. A method of interacting with an interactive form, the method comprising: receiving at a server a value of a first control of an interactive form, the value representing a portion of a travel-related search query entered at a client device into the interactive form; determining with the server at least one recommended value for a second control of the interactive form different from the first control of the interactive form based on at least one recommendation rule interrelating the first and the second controls; computing the at least one recommendation rule using collaborative historical data in a history database; aggregating at least one data set within the collaborative historical data in the history database if a size of the data set is below a threshold, wherein aggregation of the at least one data set improves a statistical significance of the at least one recommended value; and communicating the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form from the server to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining with the server the at least one recommended value for the second control comprises: applying the at least one recommendation rule at the server that interrelates the first and second controls to determine the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: querying a recommendation rules database at the server to retrieve the at least one recommendation rule.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising: storing the value of the first control received at the server in the history database at the server.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the received value of the first control is stored in the history database in a data structure that associates an identity of a user of the client device entering the value with the received value.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising: storing a plurality of historical values for the first and second controls selected by a plurality of users of the interactive form in the history database; and computing the at least one recommendation rule with the server based at least partially upon the plurality of historical values for the first and second controls.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising: adjusting the at least one recommended value for the second control to reflect a historical value for the second control associated with a user of the client device entering the value of the first control.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining with the server the at least one recommended value for the second control comprises: querying a recommendation rules database to retrieve the at least one recommendation rule based upon historical values for the first and second controls selected by a plurality of users of the interactive form, wherein the server determines the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form using the at least one recommendation rule.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising: querying the history database to retrieve a historical value for the second control selected by a user of the client device in correlation with selection of the value for the first control received at the server, wherein the server considers the historical value for the second control in combination with the at least one recommendation rule when determining the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: before the value is entered into the first control at the client device, retrieving a pre-filled recommended value from a local cache at the client device; and populating the first control with a pre-filled recommended value.

11. An apparatus for use with a client device, the apparatus comprising: a server including a processor; and program code configured to be executed by the processor to interact with an interactive form, the program code configured to cause the processor to: receive a value for a first control of the interactive form; determine at least one recommended value for a second control of the interactive form different from the first control based on at least one recommendation rule interrelating the first and the second controls; compute the at least one recommendation rule using collaborative historical data in a history database; aggregate at least one data set within the collaborative historical data in the history database if a size of the data set is below a threshold, wherein aggregation of the at least one data set improves a statistical significance of the at least one recommended value; and communicate the at least one recommended value for the second control from the server to the client device, wherein the value represents a portion of the travel-related search query entered into the interactive form.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising: a recommendation rules database coupled with the processor of the server, the recommendation rules database containing a plurality of recommendation rules interrelating the first and second controls.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the program code configured to cause the processor to determine the at least one recommended value for the second control comprises: program code configured to cause the processor to query the recommendation rules database to retrieve the at least one recommendation rule relating the value for the first control and the at least one recommended value for the second control; and program code configured to cause the processor to apply the at least one recommendation rule at the server to determine the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the history database is coupled to the processor of the server, and wherein the apparatus further comprises program code configured to cause the processor to store the value received from the client device in the history database.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the received value is stored in the history database in a data structure that associates with an identity of a user of the client device with the received value.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising: program code configured to cause the processor to adjust the at least one recommended value for the second control to reflect the historical value for the second control associated with a user of the client device.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the history database is coupled to the processor of the server, the database containing historical values for the first and second controls selected by a plurality of users of the interactive form; and program code configured to cause the processor to compute the at least one recommendation rule based at least partially the historical values for the first and second controls.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising: a recommendation rules database coupled with the processor of the server, the recommendation rules database containing the at least one recommendation rule relating the value of the first control with the at least one recommended value of the second control, and the at least one recommendation rule based upon historical values for the first and second controls selected by a plurality of users of the interactive form.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the program code configured to cause the processor to determine the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form comprises: program code configured to cause the processor to query the recommendation rules database to retrieve the at least one recommendation rule.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising: program code configured to cause the processor to query the history database to retrieve the historical value for the second control selected by a user of the client device, wherein the historical value for the second control is considered in combination with the at least one recommendation rule when the at least one recommended value for the second control of the interactive form is determined.

21. A computer program product comprising: a computer readable storage medium; and program code stored on the computer readable medium and configured to, upon execution by at least one processor, interact with an interactive form by: receive a value for a first control of the interactive form; determine at least one recommended value for a second control of the interactive form different from the first control based on at least one recommendation rule interrelating the first and the second controls; compute the at least one recommendation rule using collaborative historical data in a history database; aggregate at least one data set within the collaborative historical data in the history database if a size of the data set is below a threshold, wherein aggregation of the at least one data set improves a statistical significance of the at least one recommended value; and communicate the at least one recommended value for the second control from the server to the client device, wherein the value represents a portion of the travel-related search query entered into the interactive form.